How to set up variants for your products

In this tutorial, we will go over how to set variants for your products. Variants is a tool that will allow you to list multiple models under one product listing (e.g. rings with multiple sizes, trains in different scales, etc.). The tool will help clean up your shop and make it easier for shoppers to navigate to the products that best fit their needs.

We've provided a video and written tutorial, so feel free to watch and/or read along!

Before you begin setting variants it is important to make sure all of the relevant models you’d like to work with are uploaded to Shapeways.com.

NAVIGATE TO YOUR PRODUCT PAGE

Head over to Make > My Models. Find the model that you would like to set variants under, and click on the model to navigate to the model edit page.

Once the model has passed printability checks, you can set the model for sale. In order to do this, select “edit product with this model” on the top right of the screen.

In order to enable variants, your product must be for sale. In the first section, select “Offer for sale to others” and “Display to the public” add your product category and description.

Remember, now that we have variants you can remove the size of the ring from the title of the products, as variants will now make multiple sizes available on one product page.

ENABLING VARIANTS

Scroll down the page to the variants section. Here, you can enable variants clicking on the drop down menu and choosing the relevant variant type you’d like to work with. The variants tool has four selections from the drop down menu:

Sizes: XS - XL

Scale: 1:12 - 1:20000

Sides: d4 - d30, polyhedral set

Ring Sizes: 1 - 13 US (40.5 - 69 EU)

In this example, we are enabling rings. I will select ring sizes from the drop down menu. Note: next to Ring Size there is a “remove” button, so you can remove the variant option should you select the wrong one.

Now you can select all the sizes of the variant that you would like to set for sale. Additionally, variants will automatically add the related Facet for shopper navigation. Once you have done this, you’re ready to move onto the next step.

ENABLING MATERIALS FOR SALE

Using the drop down menu in the materials section, you can add the material you would like to set for sale. You can select each material individually, or set an entire material family for sale.

In this example, I will be setting my ring for sale in white strong & flexible, polished silver and 14k rose gold plated.

PRICING & MODEL FILES

Once you have selected all the materials you would like to sell your product in, you’re ready to begin pricing and file assigning. The pricing and model files section is where you will be able to assign models to a specific size and material.

The first thing you will note is the ability to group your models by variants or material. This function exists for bulk editing, e.g. Assigning a specific price to an entire material, or assigning a model to a specific material/variant.

Group by Variant

This function will group all of your selected materials by the variant sizes you have chosen: in this case, ring sizes. Now, I can bulk select all models in a specific size and quickly assign the corresponding model by using the drop down menu at the top.

Group by Material

Grouping by Material makes it so that each variant size is categorized by material.

I have designed my ring for Strong & Flexible (SF) materials slightly different from metal, so I am assigning the corresponding SF model size, which I have stored in my model library.

I can also use the selection boxes on the side to bulk edit the price of all my models.

Note: Next to all products is “eye” icon. When the eye icon is lit up, it means that the product will be visible on the product page. If there is a specific variant/material type that you do not wish to be displayed on the final product page, you can click the eye icon to disable it.

Once you have assigned all of the models and set the correct pricing, you are ready to move forward. Hit save changes.

Merge Product Info

Once you hit save changes and your product is live, we will be able to detect if you have similar products listed in your shop. If you do, the “Merge Product Info” section will appear.

Merge product is a tool that allows you to quickly move pictures, comments, tags and favorites from those individual products into this one. Once you use this tool, those models will no longer be visible in your shop.

Select save changes and view your product. Now, when you go to your product page you should see your variant drop down menu enabled.